Sumogakure
by JKDstudent
Summary: A Konohagakure ninja, the last of his kind, seeks his own form of vengeance against those who destroyed the home of his ancestors.
1. Prologue

Rise and Fall of Sumogakure (Village Hidden in the Frost)

During the time of the Second Hokage, the Uchiha clan and the Hyuuga clan had a heated rivalry going on. During this conflict, young Uchiha woman by the name of Mizuna wished only for the violence between the two clans to cease. By age 20, her Sharingan had still not activated, thus the Curse of Hatred had not yet tainted her. A young Hyuuga called Hizamaru, of the Hyuuga clan's main branch, also saw the feud between the two clans as senseless and troublesome. The two young ninja met, and soon fell in love. The two clans, disgusted that one of their own could fall in love with a member of the opposite clan, disowned the two young shinobi, calling for the both of them to be exiled from the village. The Hokage knew that refusing these demands may spark a rebellion in the village from the Uchiha and the Hyuuga, and at the very least would intensify the conflict between the two clans, resulting in further bloodshed. He had no choice but to give in to the demands of the two clans and exiled them from the village. He did not, however, label them rogue ninja, as the two rival clans had also demanded.

And so Hizamaru and Mizuna traveled south, eventually finding a remote island coated in snow. It was there that they built a home and lived together without fear of anyone assailing them. In spite of the cold weather, the soil was rich and able to produce certain crops. They lived out the next few years of their lives in happiness, having a child in due time. A little girl which they named Atsuko.

Eventually, a man by the name of Junichi found their island. He was badly wounded when Hizamaru discovered him on a trip out for firewood. He immediately brought the wounded man to his wife, a skilled practitioner of medical ninjutsu. She treated the man's wounds, and he in return explained that his reason for coming to this island was to escape from an assassin that had been hunting him. He went on to state that the reason he was being hunted was because he had witnessed a murder, and that the killer was attempting to cover his tracks by eliminating the one witness. Hizamaru used his Byakugan to read Junichi's muscle movements and heart rate to determine if he was telling the truth. After confirming his story, the couple offered him temporary refuge in their home while he fully recovered from his injuries.

Within two days of Hizamaru finding Junichi, the assassin tracked him to the island and discovered the house of Hizamaru and Mizuna. A battle ensued, with the couple working together to vanquish the assailant, a Sunagakure ninja. After a few more days of rest, Junichi began his journey home, thanking the couple for their generosity and kindness.

Junichi made it back to Sunagakure and told the tale of the two ninja that saved his life to his friends. Eventually, word of this reached the Kazekage. Enraged by the killing of one of his own ninja, he sent representatives to the island to demand that the price of one of their lives be paid for the life that the village had lost. The price for noncompliance was both of their lives. Hizamaru was willing to give his life, but Mizuna insisted that it be her, stating that he was a main branch member of the Hyuuga, and therefore did not bear the seal that destroyed the Byakugan upon his death. She insisted that it be her so that the Byakugan's secrets could not fall into wrong hands. Hizamaru could not bear the thought of their child growing up without a mother, so instead of allowing her to go, he asked that Sunagakure give them a few days to decide which one of them would give their lives. He used this time to travel back to the Land of Fire, into Konohagakure. He broke into one of the Hyuuga clan's temples, and copied down the scroll containing the procedure for placing the seal. He fled the village under cover of night and traveled back to his home. Upon arrival, he placed the seal upon himself so that his Byakugan would die with him. Hizamaru told Mizuna nothing of this.

When the Sunagakure ninja returned for the answer, Mizuna intially stepped up, but Hizamaru stepped in front, removing his headband to reveal the Hyuuga clan's seal branded on his forehead. He told Mizuna that it would be better for their child to grow up fatherless than motherless, and left in the custody of the Sunagakure ninja. Mizuna felt such great sorrow and despair, not only for losing her love, but for their child having to grow up without a father, that her Sharingan finally awakened. However, she would never use it, for she knew all too well of the Curse of Hatred that plagued the Uchiha clan, and intended to avoid falling under it at all costs for the sake of her child.

Upon arrival in Sunagakure, Hizamaru was tried and found guilty of the murder of a Sunagakure ninja. His execution came within hours of the verdict. The seal on his forehead activated, and his Byakugan was extinguished along with his life.

Many people of Sunagakure felt that his execution was unjust, and a select few felt so strongly of it that they abandoned the village entirely, unwilling to live under such a cruel Kage. They, too, traveled south, towards the island from which the Hyuuga had been brought to Suna. They came to offer their condolences to the grieving Mizuna, as well as seek a new place to live. They built houses alongside Mizuna's and the island became the home of a small community. Some would occasionally travel back and forth between the island and other Hidden Villages to buy or trade for food or materials. This allowed word of the island community to spread among the land and attract more people to the idea of a quiet life away from war and conflict. Slowly, more and more people began to migrate to the snowy island with building materials, seeds for crops, and livestock. Some ninja even immigrated to the island. Eventually, Mizuna felt it necessary to make it an official village: Sumogakure. Other nations, however, did not reognize Sumogakure as an official ninja village, and largely left them alone. The townsfolk met and decided that Mizuna should become the first Kage of the village. Mizuna accepted this title and became the leader of the unofficial village.

Meanwhile, Atsuko Hyuuga was maturing into a young woman. Despite having been born from an Uchiha as well as a Hyuuga, both of her eyes initially maintained the lavender tone of the Hyuuga clan. However, at the tender age of 10, her mother contracted a fatal heart disease, and despite every medical ninja's best efforts, she died 6 months after contracting the disease. Atsuko's despair and melancholy unlocked the Sharingan in her left eye. After Mizuna's wake, a new Kage needed to be chosen. Atsuko was far too young to take up the mantle, and a middle-aged ninja by the name of Masato was named the new Kage.

10 more years passed without much incident, and Sumogakure grew to a size and population rivaling that of Konohagakure. Atsuko, age 20, was now considered mature enough to become Kage if anything happened to Masato. She had also met and fallen in love with a man originally from Amegakure. The two married and bore two children, an older boy and a younger girl named Kenshin and Misao, respectively.

Another 5 years passed, and the Kage, Masato, passed on due to a failing body addled by age and long-term injuries sustained during his time in the war. Atsuko took his place as the Kage.

During this time, Sumogakure continued to grow. This began to threaten some of the other countries, the Land of Water and the Land of Earth in particular. Fearing a new presence in the ongoing power struggles, the two nations formed a temporary truce in order to eliminate the potential threat, to the protest of the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning. The Land of Wind remained neutral. Because of the war, however, it would be quite some time before the two countries ever acted upon this truce.

Another 5 years of peace passed within Sumogakure, and Atsuko happily maintained her position as Kage as well as her position as a mother. There was never any need to use her Sharingan, and the Curse of Hatred never addled her mind. Atsuko, as well as the rest of the village, were blissfully unaware and uncaring of the troubles of the outside world. But all good things must come to an end. Such is the unfortunate reality of the world.

The temporarily allied nations finally saw an opportunity to strike at Sumogakure. They marshalled a sizable combined force and sent the batallion to the peaceful island. Caught completely off-guard, Atsuko scrambled to muster up some sort of defense force from the very few remaining ninja of the village. She sheltered her children and activated her Sharingan, allowing her instincts to take over. She fought furiously, wielding the power of the Sharingan and the Byakugan simultaneously. During the battle, however, her chakra supply became too exhausted to maintain the Sharingan, and she deactivated it, relying purely on Byakugan instead. One ninja saw the opportunity and managed to place her under a genjutsu. This resulted in her mistaking her husband for an enemy ninja and cutting his throat with a kunai. At the exact moment she made the blow, a Sumogakure ninja delivered a killing blow to the genjutsu caster and the illusion dissipated. The realization that she had killed her husband unlocked a new level of power within her, and the Mangekyo Sharingan burst to life in her left eye. Enraged by the bloodshed, she mustered up the vast majority of her remaining chakra to cast a massive Amaterasu, engulfing nearly everything around her. Her motherly instincts kicked in somewhere along the line and she was able to destroy just about everything and everyone in battle, save for herself and her children. Kenshin and Misao, traumatized by having their home, friends, and family destroyed, has their respective Sharingan eyes awaken. One enemy ninja survived, though, and Atsuko flew at him in a rage, asking who was behind this attack. The ninja told her that the Land of Earth and the Land of Water orchestrated this attack out of fear that Sumogakure would become another presence in the wars. Atsuko then wondered if all of the nations actually supported this idea. She was told that the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning vocally protested the conspiracy against the village. After getting the answers she needed, Atsuko killed the ninja with Amaterasu. She knew of the village's origins, and figured that if the Land of Fire protested against an attack on Sumogakure, then the feud between the Uchiha and the Hyuuga had likely been settled. She decided to return to her roots. Atsuko, Kenshin, and Misao traveled back to Konohagakure.

As it turns out, Atsuko's suspicions were correct. The Uchiha and the Hyuuga had settled their dispute some years ago. She was able to settle in with the Hyuuga clan. The Hyuugas realized that they were carriers of the Byakugan, and that the dual-eyed family would probably be safer under their watch. The Uchiha refused them outright, stating that only pure-blooded Uchiha were allowed housing withing the clan's community. Originally, the Hyuuga clan wanted to put the seal onto their new housemates' foreheads, but Atsuko realized that simply having the Byakugan gave her the upper hand in negotiations of that nature, and refused, stating that unless the Hyuuga clan withdrew that request, then her family would simply move out from under the Hyuuga's roof and live in a place on their own, away from the clan's protection. Desperate to ensure the security of the Byakugan to the greatest degree possible, the Hyuuga main branch agreed to these terms and withdrew their request to brand Atsuko and her children with the curse seals. Kenshin and Misao trained under Hyuuga tutelage, mastering the Gentle Fist Taijutsu as well as the 8 Trigrams techniques.

Several years passed, and Kenshin and Misao grew into powerful ninja with Sharingan and Byakugan simultaneously at their disposal. Eventually, they grew up and found love. Misao was unfortunately killed in action before she could marry and produce a child, but Kenshin was able to survive and marry a young Hyuuga woman by the name of Kaoru. Together they bore a single son, Katsu, although Kaoru died giving birth. Katsu grew up as a relatively happy child, despite having never known his mother. He befriended a young Uchiha boy by the name of Shishio during the Chunin Exams at age 10. Soon after Katsu and Shishio's promotion to Chunin at age 12 (they both failed the first time), Itachi Uchiha slaughtered his entire clan, save for his brother, Sasuke. The loss of his friend, Shishio awakened Katsu's Sharingan in his left eye. A year later, Katsu's grandmother, Atsuko, committed suicide. The Curse of Hatred took root in her after her Mangekyo Sharingan first awakened in the battle of Sumogakure and she felt herself beginning to slip into insanity in her later days. In order to prevent herself from harming anyone in her madnes, she threw a kunai straight into the air and allowed it to come back down right on top of her head. She died instantly and painlessly. Kenshin was later killed in action tracking a rogue ninja. Katsu Hyuuga, the son of Kenshin and Kaoru Hyuuga, is the only one left alive capable of using Sharingan and Byakugan simultaneously.


	2. The Regret of a Survivor

"I'm leaving the village. I'll be back in a few years or so." Katsu declared simply. "I need to do some soul-searching."

"Very well," replied Hiashi, the Hyuuga clan chief. "I hope you, err... find what it is you are searching for."

"Thank you, sensei." Katsu Hyuuga walked to the door and exited the building.

"Katsu..." Hiashi began to no one in particular once he was sure no one was within earshot. "I just hope you stay away from that island..."

Stepping outside, the sun shone on Katsu's long, blonde hair which parted roughly in the middle of his scalp, slightly off to the right. The Konoha Jonin wore a simple black short-sleeve shirt underneath his Konoha flak jacket, and dark blue pants with black sandals. His headband resided on his right bicep rather than his forehead.

Katsu was an extraordinary ninja with the ability to use both the Sharingan and the Byakugan simultaneously. His eyes normally were colored the signature lavender of the Hyuuga clan, but he could activate the Sharingan in his left eye. The 16 year old Hyuuga had always wanted to know the origins of this ability, but was always declined an answer when he asked.

In truth, Katsu had every intention of visiting the island in question. The island where Hizmaru Hyuuga and Mizuna Uchiha first settled after they were exiled from Konoha. Sumogakure.

If Hiashi knew that Katsu was aware of those names, he would be forced to remain under the Hyuuga's roof and never be allowed to leave Konoha. Katsu had broken into the Hyuuga clan's records storage a few nights ago when he overheard two of his clansmen discussing it. He spent nearly the whole night poring over the documents describing the origin of Sumogakure and everything that transpired afterwards. The Hyuuga clan, even though Hizamaru and his descendants were no longer considered members of the village, still recognized that Hizamaru wielded the Byakugan, and thus needed to be on record.

Katsu wanted to see the place for himself. Then he would begin his plan.

Katsu hadn't lied when he said he would be gone for several years. He even planned on leaving the borders of the ninja countries. All part of his plan.

Katsu traveled south, towards the snow-covered island. His journey was not smooth, though. As he was passing through a heavily wooded area, some interference was met.

"Well, now, what do we have here?" came a voice from behind a tree. The owner of the voice stepped out, a kunai clenched in his hand. "A wandering ninja. Do you know what we do to ninja who wander through our territory?"

Katsu was not impressed. "Last I checked, this area was wilderness. A weakling like you best be careful; don't want any bears to happen by and make you their lunch."

"I'm a weakling, huh?! Well, let's see what you think of this!" The ninja rushed forward, aiming a swipe with his kunai at Katsu's neck. Katsu simply smacked the weapon away with his left hand using the metal piece on the back of his glove, then delivered a crushing punch to the assailant's ribs. A puff of smoke revealed the use of a substitution jutsu. Katsu activated his Byakugan and saw several other enemies leaping down from the trees at him from behind.

"8 Trigrams Palm Rotation!" he cried, spinning in place and sending waves of chakra out from his palms. All of the attackers were struck by this move, and more puffs of smoke arose from the bodies, revealing logs, rocks, and, strangely, a banana suit.

"You all seem to be fond of substitution jutsu!" Katsu shouted. "Well, then, let's see how much value your substitution has if I do this!" He performed a series of hand seals, ending in Tora. "Fire Style: Great Fire Ring Jutsu!" He spun around once more, arms outstretched, and a circle of fire materialized around him. He made a pushing motion with his arms, and in seconds, the fire ring expanded until it's diameter was roughly 500 feet. He extinguished the flames, and looked around to see several charred corpses lying on the ground. "Feh. Barely even worth addressing, let alone fighting." He continued towards his destination.

Eventually, Katsu made it to the shoreline. Seeing no boats nearby, he simply continued walking along the water's surface. After about another hour's time, he arrived at the island. As he had read, almost nothing remained of the village that once thrived there. A few charred pieces of wood and a bit of melted or broken stone here and there, but that was it. The Amaterasu that his grandmother had cast to end the battle of Sumogakure had left almost nothing behind. Despite the desolate scene, Katsu could not help but feel somewhat of a sense of closure having laid eyes on it for himself. He stood there in silence for a few hours, meticulously planning his next move. After reaching a conclusion on what he would do next, he turned and left. It was time to gather materials. This would take awhile.

Mizarama heard a knock on his front door. "Go away!" he barked. "I don't want no visitors while I work! Or ever, for that matter!"

"Sir, I just need a moment of your time." Katsu replied from outside. "Your blacksmith skills are legendary, especially when it comes to making swords with, shall we say, 'special' properties? I'd like to request your assistance in making one of these special swords."

"Too bad, kid! I don't make those kinds of blades anymore. Besides, if the sword you're lookin' fer is the kind of special I think it is, you need very specific materials that are incredibly hard to find and even harder to mine without screwing it up!"

"I know the kinds of materials required for the kind of sword I need, which is why I've taken the liberty of acquiring those materials in advance. Only took me about three months to get my hands on all of it, but it's all here in pristine shape."

Mizarama needed to confirm this story for himself. He unlocked the door to see for himself who he was dealing with. Immediately the sword maker noticed the Konoha headband on Katsu's arm. He grabbed a large sack from Katsu's hand and examined the rocks inside. "I gotta question for you, kid. You're obviously a ninja. How is it that a ninja knows so much about exactly how to mine these types of rocks without making them too impure and rendering them useless?"

"You'd be surprised at what one can accomplish when driven by vengeance."

"Ah, so you were wronged by someone and you want a special blade to take care of them? Well, forget it, I don't make swords for people who want it for their own selfish reasons." He turned away and sat back in front of his furnace to continue his work.

"Well, it wasn't exactly me that was wronged. More like my predecessors. Remember Sumogakure?" 

Mizarama paused. There was no way this kid was descended from them... was there?

"Ah, I have your attention. Turn around and look at my eyes."

Mizarama did so and saw the Sharingan and the Byakugan staring him down at the same time.

"You're one of Atsuko's descendants... I didn't think there were any left..."

"You know her name? How did you know my grandmother?"

"I was one of the people who settled in Sumogakure when it was first created. After awhile, I got tired of all the new people coming in and making the place more crowded, so I left and built this place. All I've ever wanted is to be left alone to make my swords in peace, see? The village eventually got too crowded for my liking. I feel pretty guilty for leaving, though. I feel like if I had stayed, then maybe my swords would have made a difference in the outcome of the battle."

"So, tell me... Do you wish to make up for being unable to help the village in its hour of need?"

"I've had to live with that regret my whole life. They were the first people to fully accept me, and I left them to die."

"Then make me a sword like none you have ever made before. I intend to use it to teach those who destroyed it a lesson."

"You plan to take up arms against the Land of Water and the Land of Earth? You are but one man. Even if you do possess the Sharingan and the Byakugan, how can you hope to prevail against two countries? Especially the Kage of the Hidden Villages."

"You leave that to me. I have a plan that evens things out."

"Alright then. So, what exactly do you want this sword to do?"


End file.
